Heavy Hitters
by SushiBomb
Summary: Korra has made a habit of leaving the island late at night, as a way to clear her thoughts. She is in search of a distraction, and perhaps she has found it in her formal rival. Tahnorra pairing. Rated M for content. Author's note inside. Enjoy!


A/N: Excited for my first official Tahnorra fic for the fandom! Not quite sure what to rate this, since I'm only posting the smut on tumblr, since those critic people have been reporting everyone up the ass. My blog link is on my profile, so just be on the look out for chapter 2. It'll be up in a few days, most likely.

But yeah, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Sushibomb does not own Legend of Korra.

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Heavy Hitters

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Part of Korra, the smallest fraction of her being that she rarely ever paid attention to, had hoped that she wouldn't make a habit out of this.

In the back of her mind, she knew it was dangerous to be walking around alone at such an odd hour of the night, what with Amon and his growing army of followers casting their shadow over Republic City. But in the end, boredom and frustration always won out over logic and self-preservation and before long, the avatar found herself nearly halfway across the city, whistling idly to herself.

Her midnight strolls were becoming more and more frequent ever since Asami and her fellow fire ferrets began living with her on Air Temple Island. As much as she cared for her newfound group of friends, it was quickly becoming a necessity for Korra to find time away from them, time to spend for herself and her thoughts. More specifically, away from Mako and Asami's frequent but -thankfully- reserved public displays of affection. Not that she wasn't happy for them, because she was, truthfully. But still, a small part of her grew irritated with the constant sight of them, and out of that irritation, grew Korra's need to spend more time to herself.

Being around everyone, at times, made her feel restless and restless wasn't a feeling Korra played host to particularly well. Being around them forced her to think about her position and duties as the Avatar, and it forced her to think of the possibilities of Amon succeeding in his vendetta against Republic City and against benders as a whole. Her mind insisted on replaying countless scenarios and images of the city she had come to love as her home engulfed in flames, with the equalist flag hanging over various buildings.

The mere thought of it terrified Korra.

And once one thought popped in, the clouds of doubt and uncertainty moved in like a storm, until tears of frustration were streaming down her face and Naga was at her side, whimpering and nudging her arm fretfully. It was impossible to remember the last time she had had a full night's rest; most of every night was spent trying to find ways not to let thoughts of the impending battles, both with Amon, as well as her own personal battles, creep into her dreams and darken them. But with each night that passed, and with each sudden jerk into consciousness, up out of her nightmare, Korra realized her efforts were all in vain.

And so, after one singularly ominous dream, Korra crawled out of bed, pulled on her coat, and left.

She had only meant to walk the perimeter of the bay and go back. And she had only meant to do it that one night. But the allure of the quiet streets immediately drew her in, and before she knew it, she was walking past city hall almost every night. The crisp chill of the midnight air gave Korra a sense of calm as she walked around, as did the sight of the city's nocturnal citizens leaving their homes for a night on the town. They weren't thinking about the turbulent situation the city was in. They were heading out to have a good time. And after nearly a week, Korra found that she couldn't resist the appeal of being amongst them. She often wandered well into the twilight hours, when even late stores and clubs were shutting down for the night.

Much like tonight.

With her hands stuffed in her pockets and a semi-indifferent look plastered on her tanned face, Korra walked along one of the empty boulevards, only sparing passing glances at the odd couple who walked by her every so often and peaking in dark store windows curiously.

Over her many midnight trips, she had become quite familiar with most of Republic City. She had developed a familiar route of travel through the city, and her body quickly memorized it. There were parts of the city she made an honest effort to avoid, naturally; namely the gang territories, as most people opted to do. It wasn't uncommon to hear about bodies turning up in ditches, beaten and stripped.

Not that Korra had to worry about such a hazard, of course.

Bearing the weighty title of 'Avatar' did wonders for her 'street cred,' as Bolin called it. There wasn't one member of any of the three gangs who hadn't heard about the now infamous scrap between Avatar Korra and some bending thugs looking to exploit more of their fellow non-benders, simply because they could. But even if she hadn't been who she was, it would've made no difference to her. Korra was simply the kind of girl who would sooner throw herself in the bay than run away from a fight. But out of necessity, namely, to keep Tenzin and the others from finding out about her midnight excursions, Korra made it a point to avoid those areas.

But it seemed that no matter where she wandered to, or for how long, sooner or later her feet would unconsciously move in the direction of downtown Republic City and before she knew it, she was standing on the opposite side of the street, just outside of Triple Threat Triad territory, watching a familiar face struggle to reacquaint himself with the shadow of who he used to be.

She'd stumbled upon him once or twice already, but she could never find it in herself to make the fifteen second trip across the street to talk to him. After that day in the police station, when she'd heard him call to her in that small, defeated voice and seeing him sitting there, looking so fragile that she swore he would disintegrate if she so much as touched him… after seeing him at his absolute worst, Korra wasn't sure that they had words for each other anymore. Or at least, that was what she sometimes told herself in order to keep her feet firmly planted in the snow-covered sidewalk across the street from the gym. In truth, she was sure that the inevitable awkwardness that would accompany any prospective conversation between them would probably be one-sided; on _her_ side, naturally.

It'd been a few weeks since that day, and thankfully, it seemed that Tahno was finally rising up out of his slump. He still didn't look like he did when she first met him at Narook's, all sly glances and sleazy flirting, but at least the bags under his eyes were gone and his hair was combed again. Part of her was sad to see that he hadn't styled it into his signature wavy quasi-pompadour that only he seemed to be able to pull off, but his natural hair, simple and falling more to one side of his face, suited him just as nicely, in her opinion. It was easier to take him seriously when she saw him like this. As a _person,_ and not as the slimy creep she had pegged him for the night they met.

Seeing him as he currently was, waterbender or no, also made her wonder why the Wolfbats ever needed to resort to cheating to win their match.

From the plain grey long-sleeved shirt, soaked into a darker shade by sweat, and black training pants, coupled with the thin film of sweat coating his neck and face and dripping from his chin, Korra figured he'd been there a while. The punching bag shook with such force that Korra was shocked that it even managed to stay hanging. The ex-leader of the Wolfbats was in his own little world; the world he used to know, one with the flashing of cameras and the laughter of girls throwing themselves at him and whispering lust-filled promises in his ears. A world where he was at the top and everyone else catered to his every whim.

When he was in his natural element.

He moved with the grace and fluidity of someone who was well acquainted with the element of water, but his attitude and ferocity lended to the air of a firebender. Korra had juggled between those two long after their initial confrontation, right up until the moment he walked, no, _swaggered_, into the locker room, donning a blue sash that established his element in Korra's mind.

Though he could no longer call himself a waterbender, thanks wholly to Amon, he still moved like one, and Korra found herself more impressed with him than she ever thought possible. He hadn't lost his spirit, Korra realized with a soft smile, he'd only lost _sight_ of it for a while. Tahno of the White Falls Wolfbats still had the heart of competitor, and the sight of him training, even at such an ungodly hour of the night, gave Korra a sliver of hope, both for him and for Republic City.

It also gave her the last little push of courage she needed to finally stop hiding in the shadows and walk across the street. She stood outside the gym window, her hands still tucked away in the pockets of her baggy water-tribe pants, little puffs of white esaping her mouth when she exhaled sharply.

The debate on whether to walk in or not only lasted a matter of seconds and naturally, logic lost yet again, as was commonplace in the mind of the stubborn young avatar. The bell chimed as she pushed the door open and walked in.

The first thing she noticed was how hot it was in the fairly spacious room, despite the frigid temperature outside. There was no air conditioning circulating, or even a fan anywhere in the room, and Korra tried to hold back a cough at the stifling feeling. Unsuccessfully, of course, and at the small sound, Tahno, who had not noticed her walk in, paused mid-swing to look over his shoulder at her.

"Korra?"

At the sound of the familiar baritone, Korra looked up awkwardly, her face tinted pink at being caught.

"Hey Tahno, uh, how's it going?" She said with an innocent smile and wave. Tahno gave her an odd look before lowering his arm and laughing idly.

"As well as can be expected, all things considering. What the hell are you doing here, anyway? Don't you have a curfew over on Air Temple Island?" He teased. Korra smiled earnestly at the sliver of the old Tahno creeping through. He'd lost a lot over the past few weeks, but it made her happy to see he still hadn't lost that cocky drawl that was singularly his.

"Just couldn't sleep, that's all. So I went for a walk."

Tahno let out a small chuckle. "You went for a walk all the way across town?"

Korra shrugged indignantly. "I've been out for awhile, okay?"

The avatar made herself comfortable against the wall and folded her arms. "Anyway, I happened to see you in here before, and now I'm wondering if maybe I'm not the only one who's been having trouble sleeping?"

Tahno looked at her curiously. "What, you saying you've been watching me or something?"

Korra rubbed her arm, a small frown on her face. "This isn't the first midnight trip of mine. I've had a lot on my mind as of late."

At that, Tahno's face faltered slightly, and the ex-waterbender looked pointedly out the window, away from her. "You're not the only one, uh-vatar." He said, and at the sound of the current avatar snort at the endearing little mispronunciation of her title, Tahno's lip twitched upward. It was nice to hear her laugh. Seriousness and 'gloom-and-doom' didn't fit Korra's personality at all.

"So, you've been watching me then. I must say, I'd never've pegged you for a 'creep in the shadows' kind of girl." He began teasingly, waiting for the inevitable explosion from the hot-tempered waterbender. And sure enough, the girl promptly released a flurry of inarticulate words and noises, stumbling painfully to form a response. Tahno wasn't sure he'd ever seen so many different expressions flit across a person's face like that before.

"I'm not!" She finally snapped after a few seconds, "I just…uh…"

"Just what, Korra?" He goaded.

"You know what, forget I said anything." She said, her bottom lip pouted in irritation as she turned away from him in a huff.

"Relax," Tahno drawled, "I'm just messing around. It's nice to see a familiar face for once."

Korra looked up at that. "What happened to your teammates? Aren't they around?"

Tahno shook his head. The ex-waterbender knelt down to adjust one of his shin-pads, a small frown on his face. "They left town after the whole Amon thing. Ming's up in the mountains somewhere, and Shaozu…"

Tahno paused for a moment, lips pursed in thought. "Ah yeah, I think he went down to stay with his folks back home."

Korra pushed herself off the wall and walked towards the still kneeling wolfbat captain. She knelt down in front of him. "What about your fangirls?" She asked.

Tahno paused in re-lacing his shin-pad to look up at her.

"What fangirls?" He began with a bitter chuckle. "They don't come around anymore. Not much in it for them _now_, you know?"

Korra's lips bowed downward. "So basically, everyone ditched you."

Tahno stood up, a tiny, lazy smirk snaking its way onto his face as he pulled the bandages on his hands tighter. "No, not at all. They'll be back. They just need to sort themselves out, and that might take a while. So for now, it's just me."

Korra also made to stand up, using her hand on the ground for support when she noticed something. The padding on the floor of the gym was soaked.

"Tahno," she began curiously as she looked up at the ex-waterbender, who had been getting ready to resume his nightly training, "How long have you been here?"

Tahno looked over his shoulder at her. "Since around ten."

"Tonight?"

"This morning."

Korra's jaw dropped."How are you still standing! You've been at it for almost fifteen hours, are you insane?" She shrieked which, surprisingly, earned her a snort from her former rival.

"Oh please Korra, this is nothing new to me at all. The Wolfbats always trained this rigorously. We may have cheated in the finals, but we didn't get to be three-time champs by slacking off. I don't see why that should change just because I don't have my bending anymore." He said tersely before turning and gracing his abused punching bag with a powerful kick to the left side, sending it flying nearly to the ceiling. "Besides, I did take a break a few hours ago." He added as an afterthought.

"It must be a lot quieter now that it's just you here." Korra said seriously.

"It is," Tahno grunted out as he landed a flawless uppercut, quickly followed by a swift roundhouse kick, "But I don't really mind it as much anymore. I don't have to think about anything."

"Yeah, I'm sure it's hard work thinking and punching at the same time." Korra said with a teasing chuckle. Tahno shot her a dirty look. "Funny."

"Relax, _pretty boy_, I'm just kidding. I know what you meant. Still," Korra began as she plopped down on the floor, just outside the boundary of the mat, "is this all you do nowadays? Hang out here and train?"

"Not like I have much else to do. I used to go down to the bay sometimes, but…well, it feels kinda alien to me now." He said quietly.

After awhile, he noticed that Korra hadn't said anything in response, and looked back to her questioningly. Korra was glaring so hard at the floor that Tahno was sure it would burst into flames at any moment, her lips angled downward in a sharp scowl.

Tahno sighed. "It's not your fault, uh-vatar. Stop looking so down on yourself."

Korra glanced up from the floor momentarily, her eyebrows still knitted together.

"He scares me, Tahno." She whispered. Tahno tried to suppress the shudder that threatened to creep up his arm the second she spoke. He knew full well who she was talking about. He saw his face every night in his nightmares. That mask, and that hand, creeping towards him and pressing against his forehead... sometimes he swore he could still feel the heat of Amon's finger on his head, and the feeling instantly made his stomach turn.

"Is that why you're out wandering at one in the morning?"

Korra gave a half-hearted shrug in response. Tahno smirked softly to himself. "Doesn't seem like a very smart thing to do, seeing as how you're enemy number one to Amon."

"I know." Korra snapped suddenly. "But honestly, I don't really feel any safer cooped up in my room. I just really hate being on that island sometimes. Being _around_ everyone is too much for me sometimes."

"Oh, I see. So that's what this is really about." Tahno began as he walked over to a locker on the far side of the room. Korra watched him curiously. "What?"

She heard Tahno laugh. "I'd heard that after they raided the Sato mansion, everyone shacked up with you. Guess that's not working out so well, is it?"

"That's not true. I'm happy that everyone's staying with me. But-" Korra paused as Tahno walked over and dropped a roll of bandages in her lap. "What's this for?"

"For your hands, genius. That punching bag'll wear your knuckles down to bloody stumps without protection. Now get up."

Korra followed his instruction, though she was still looking at him oddly, still not understanding the point of what the ex-waterbender was doing.

"Tahno,-" She began before Tahno held up a hand to silence her.

"Come on Korra, give me a little credit. You're obviously doing the same thing as me. You're wandering around looking for a distraction, and right now, I'm offering you one. You don't have to think about Amon, or protecting the city, or your friends, or anything. Give yourself a break for awhile." He said as walked over with a soft smirk and took the roll of bandages out of her slack grip and tucked it under his arm. Taking one of her hands in his other hand, Tahno quickly busied himself with removing her arm cuffs, leaving her arms bare from the elbow down. Korra stared at him suspiciously as he took the roll from underneath his arm and tugging the bandage loose with his teeth, began casually wrapping her hand for her.

Feeling her eyes on him, he looked up. "What? My offer for those private lessons still stands, you know." He purred teasingly as he finished her hand and moved up to her wrist.

The two stood in silence for a moment, Tahno wrapping her wrist with surprising tenderness, and Korra watching him work in silence. After a minute, Tahno let her hand go. "Flex your hand."He instructed, and Korra followed suit, opening and closing her fist.

"How does it feel?"

Korra nodded in approval. "Fine. A little tight, but not too bad."

"That's how it's supposed to be." Tahno said as he motioned for her other hand. She lifted it wordlessly, and a few minutes later, it was wrapped just as tightly as its twin. She stared at him hesitantly.

"Are you sure about this?"

"What's to _not_ be sure about, Korra?" He said with a low chuckle as he grabbed her lightly by the waist and pushed her towards the heavy bag of sand. "Trust me," She heard him say from behind her, "After an hour or so, you will feel so much better."

She knew he was talking about the punching bag, of course, but Korra couldn't help but notice the way the sudden drop in his voice as he spoke in her ear made it sound like he was talking about something _far_ less innocent. Which, Korra decided as she steeled herself in preparation to swing, he probably was, as Tahno was just the kind of guy whose every utterance had some sort of double meaning to it.

That and the fact that not only had he not let her go, but his grip on her waist actually tightened slightly as he spoke.

"You can let go now." She said tightly, fidgeting out of his grip.

"Oh, pardon me." He droned nonchalantly as he backed away. Even through the thick material of her coat, Korra could feel his fingers trace the curve of her waist to her back as he pulled away.

"Well? Go ahead." He said once he was far enough.

Korra tightened her core and swung her left fist, quickly followed by the right. Surprisingly, the punching bag wasn't as hard as it looked, and it swung side-to-side with each punch, jab, and kick she attacked it with.

"I must say, for a pro-athlete, your form is pretty bad." Tahno said suddenly, successfully interrupting the steady rhythm Korra had just gotten going.

"What!" She snapped as she whirled on him. "My 'form' is just fine, bub."

Tahno shook his head as he walked over. "I beg to differ, sweetheart. Frankly, you're all over the place."

He swiftly turned her around. "First of all, your legs are too far apart. You're punching a bag, not trying to move a mountain." Once again, Korra found her personal space being shamelessly invaded by the ex-waterbender as he came up behind her and pressed his body flush against hers.

She felt Tahno's hands run down her arms and lift them up, positioning them into a fighting stance, his own longer arms pressed against hers in the same position.

"…Tahno," She hissed, "Is this necessary?"

"No, not really."He said bluntly. "But I find that it's much less trying on my patience to just show someone how to do something, rather than explain it to them. Oh, and one more thing," He began as he slid a hand down to her hip, "Tuck in your spine or you're going to hurt you back."

Korra rolled her eyes. "How the heck do you tuck in your spine?"

"Like this." Tahno said as he forcibly angled her pelvis, forcing her lower back to arch against his stomach. Korra grunted softly at the feeling of his fingers pressing sharply into the soft flesh of her lower hip. A grunt that, unsurprisingly, did not go unnoticed by her dirty-minded former rival.

"Oh my, was that our innocent little avatar who just made that sound?" He murmured huskily from behind her. Korra turned back to glare at him heatedly, her face a solid shade of red.

"It wasn't like that at all, you sleaze! That hurt!" She screamed as she elbowed him away. "My form is fine. Stop trying to make excuses to feel me up!"

Tahno gave her a look of mock-hurt, completely sliding back into the Tahno she met at the noodle shop. Korra was unsure of whether she should've been impressed that Tahno could turn the 'charm' on at the snap of a finger.

"Aw I'm hurt, uh-vatar." He drawled teasingly, "I'm not that low. I wasn't lying, your form is actually pretty bad. Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself. Although, I will admit," He said with a low chuckle as he sized her up appreciatively, "your body feels pretty damn nice."

Korra growled as she stomped away from the punching bag, her face a whole shade of red darker than before, and right up to the smirking ex-waterbender. His smirk grew at the familiarity of the scene; him taunting her and her defiantly challenging him back, her lips puckered in that pout that had become her signature.

"You're really asking for it." She seethed.

"Am I?" He teased.

To his surprise –and pleasure- Korra lips curled into a smirk nearly identical to his. "You know," She began, "suddenly I think I've found something better than that punching bag."

Tahno's grin widened ferally. "I don't know Korra," he said languidly, scratching at his chin, "A one-on-one fight with you doesn't seem very fair to me."

Korra folded her arms across her chest haughtily. "I won't use my bending. Doubt I'll need it anyway."

Despite the low blow Korra dealt him, Tahno laughed. "You won't be so confident once we've gone a few rounds, believe me. Unlike your loser teammates, I don't play clean. Or gentle." He said as he pulled off his sweat-soaked shirt, revealing the black muscle top underneath.

"By the way, you might want to take that coat off. Don't want you to get too sweaty."

Korra gave him an arrogant smirk of her own as she wordlessly followed his advice, taking her sweet time peeling the fitted overcoat up over her head. Korra smiled to herself when she heard the low hiss of appreciation from her former rival, though he couldn't see it since she was pulling the coat over her head and thus covering her face.

"Ready?" He droned with a mocking smile as he took his stance. Korra smiled challengingly in response, tossing her coat to the side befor taking her own stance, noting the adjustments Tahno had made for her. Just to show him that she was paying attention to him, despite his lecherous intentions.

"Bring it, pretty boy."

Tahno's lips curled hedonistically. "Oh, with pleasure."

And then he was a blur.

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How was it so far? I'd like to hear your thoughts. I'll post a memo on my profile when I post chapter two, so yeah. Until then!


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